Welcome to the World of Menopause

Do you know who "Minnie Pauz" is? She's a woman, much like you if you are a woman with hormones, if you are a babyboomer, if you are single, married or divorced, quite simply, she's "everywoman". She is a little bit (or a lot) of all of us, depending on how you see her. She's gotten a lot of attention for the past 18 years and she's beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed with the exposure she's getting. She's not a doctor or an expert on menopause, but she gets letters that ask about medical issues all the time. That's when she sends people to real experts, like the ones listed on this page. "Minnie" is very happy to respond to questions about weight gain and chocolate!

The main thing that "Minnie Pauz" brings to the table is a sense of humor about the whole subject of aging and feeling like the fun has gone out of our lives just because we're "changing". The aging process is inevitable but some do it better than others so we've GOT to laugh about it or we're doomed to feeling miserable for the next 30 to 40 years! Hey, that's a lot of time to do things we always wanted to do and still time to take care of ourselves and have FUN!

Hugs just don't get enough credit!

Hugs just don't get enough credit! I was thinking about this recently as Valentine's Day came and went with no hug (or kiss or card) from a sweetheart. When you've been single for a long time, you tend to forget how important a simple hug can be. I have listed all the different kinds of hugs I could think of below. Maybe you can think of more.

Are you one of the 13 million babyboomers who are taking care of elderly and ailing parents? According to a 2005 survey from Campbell-Ewald Health, 25% of them are living in the same household as their parents. Many of you who get this newsletter help your parents in various ways so you might want to talk with others doing the same thing on our message board.

For those of us in some stage of hormonal change (before, during & after), we are constantly searching for BALANCE in our lives. I want to offer you some of the ways I've managed to find my balance over the years and my goals for the future. I certainly don't have all the answers, but feel a responsibility to share my discoveries with you and hope that some of my comments will help in some small way to make your life a little happier, easier, more organized and together.